recent acquisition. hens teeth in 14k cases.

another

again

kind of tedious posting one at a time.

continuing

finished

Lovely, Michael. You and I have the same taste. 431s are uncommon no matter how cased, but I've managed to acquire two solid gold ones. Here's the first, #700,306.

Here's the second, #619,496.

Very, very nice. Your first appears to have the same case as mine. But, I'm most partial to your second because of the dial. Really crisp look to it.

The cases on your watch and the first watch I listed are similar, but not identical. Both are solid 14k Wadsworth cases, signed "South Bend Chesterfield," but yours is all yellow gold and mine is two-tone, with yellow gold bezel and frame, and white gold back, stem, crown, bow.

The case on my second example is signed "South Bend Chesterfield" but the actual maker's name is not shown

Beautiful 431's guys! I thought I would toss mine into the mix.

And the face. Sorry about the large pictures, I'm still becoming familiar with posting.

I don't know if you recognize mine or not Michael, it came up on ebay shortly after you acquired yours (I was watching your auction and drooling from the sidelines ). I would like to think I got it at a good price since they were not advertising it as a 431, and the auction ended at an unusual time. I remember noticing that our serial numbers were fairly close to one another.

Unfortunately mine arrived in a worn-out B&B Royal case which I doubt was original, so I am actively on the hunt for a better case, if anyone has any extra 14k Chesterfield cases lying around around

.

Sharp eyed viewers may notice that I am missing a balance screw, which has put this one on the back burner for now. I don't know if it came to me that way or not, I knew it needed to be cleaned when it arrived so I only wound it a few times when I first got it (felt guilty about it too but just couldn't resist), and then the mainspring broke. At this point I had been working on some junk movements and felt pretty comfortable with cleaning so I ordered a new mainspring and went for it, after reassembly it was running fast which led me to notice the missing balance screw. I know this job is above my skill set, so it is waiting until I find someone to help out.

Incidentally, when I was tracking down a replacement mainspring I could only find one type, catalog number 55528, but according to the materials catalog the 431 and 419 used a slightly thinner mainspring, catalog number 35528. I have still not seen any 35528 mainsprings, has anyone run into this issue, or are they simply not available any more?

If your movement fits the case properly, it might be original. I understand that these and all other 12-size South Bends were factory cased and needed a special size case. I also understand that South Bend did not always sign it cases.

I hadn't considered that it might be the original case, Ethan. I knew about the special size of the 12s cases but the catalogs seem to imply that the 431 was only offered with certain gold-filled cases in addition to the solid gold cases. Since I didn't see my case offered in the catalog, I just assumed it had originally had a solid gold case which met a tragic end, and was replaced with the current B&B case, robbed from some other South Bend 12s. I guess I'll never know for sure, but I still plan to replace it when the right one comes along, this one is just a little too beat up.

Hello James, yes I did see your auction. I've got 2 more in gf cases plus another one in a 14k gold case. If I get any more I think I'll get classified as a hoarder and not a collector.